Protein / target

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor

CSF1RP07333Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
7
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor activity

Primary system

Immune system

Strongest disease association

leukoencephalopathy, diffuse hereditary, with spheroids 1

Genetic evidence · score 0.93

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

7 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

7 approved · 14 in clinical development

30 linked trials

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function

Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for CSF1 and IL34 and plays an essential role in the regulation of survival, proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic precursor cells, especially mononuclear phagocytes, such as macrophages and monocytes. Promotes the release of pro-inflammatory chemokines in response to IL34 and CSF1, and thereby plays an important role in innate immunity and in inflammatory processes. Plays an important role in the regulation of osteoclast proliferation and differentiation, the regulation of bone resorption, and is required for normal bone and tooth development. Required for normal male and female fertility, and for normal development of milk ducts and acinar structures in the mammary gland during pregnancy. Promotes reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, regulates formation of membrane ruffles, cell adhesion and cell migration, and promotes cancer cell invasion. Activates several signaling pathways in response to ligand binding, including the ERK1/2 and the JNK pathway (PubMed:20504948, PubMed:30982609). Phosphorylates PIK3R1, PLCG2, GRB2, SLA2 and CBL. Activation of PLCG2 leads to the production of the cellular signaling molecules diacylglycerol and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, that then lead to the activation of protein kinase C family members, especially PRKCD. Phosphorylation of PIK3R1, the regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, leads to activation of the AKT1 signaling pathway. Activated CSF1R also mediates activation of the MAP kinases MAPK1/ERK2 and/or MAPK3/ERK1, and of the SRC family kinases SRC, FYN and YES1. Activated CSF1R transmits signals both via proteins that directly interact with phosphorylated tyrosine residues in its intracellular domain, or via adapter proteins, such as GRB2. Promotes activation of STAT family members STAT3, STAT5A and/or STAT5B. Promotes tyrosine phosphorylation of SHC1 and INPP5D/SHIP-1. Receptor signaling is down-regulated by protein phosphatases, such as INPP5D/SHIP-1, that dephosphorylate the receptor and its downstream effectors, and by rapid internalization of the activated receptor. In the central nervous system, may play a role in the development of microglia macrophages (PubMed:30982608)

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (60)

Domains & features

Ig-like C2-type 1Ig-like C2-type 2Ig-like C2-type 3Ig-like C2-type 4Ig-like C2-type 5Protein kinase

Gene Ontology

  • Ccell surface
  • CCSF1-CSF1R complex
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Creceptor complex
  • FATP binding
  • Fcytokine binding
  • Fgrowth factor binding
  • Fmacrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor activity
  • Fprotein homodimerization activity
  • Fprotein phosphatase binding
  • Fprotein tyrosine kinase activity
  • Paxon guidance

972 aa · 108 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Kinase signallingUniProt · GOImmune signallingGO · ReactomeCell adhesionUniProt · GOTranscriptional regulationReactomeApoptosis & cell deathGO
View supporting evidence

Kinase signalling

  • ·Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for CSF1 and IL34 and plays…
  • ·protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • ·peptidyl-tyrosine phosphorylation
  • ·positive regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B signal transduction

Immune signalling

  • ·cytokine binding
  • ·cellular response to cytokine stimulus
  • ·cytokine-mediated signaling pathway
  • ·inflammatory response

Cell adhesion

  • ·Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for CSF1 and IL34 and plays…
  • ·cell-cell junction maintenance

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·Transcriptional Regulation by VENTX

Apoptosis & cell death

  • ·negative regulation of apoptotic process
View underlying pathways (3)

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

CSF1IL34SPI1TNFSF11RUNX1CSF2CBLTYROBPGRB2KITLGCSF1R

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Drugs targeting this protein

2

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

pexidartinib
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Macrophage colony stimulating factor receptor inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving tenosynovial giant cell tumor, diffuse type, neoplasm, Alzheimer disease, pigmented villonodular synovitis

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 3 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

sunitinib
ApprovedInhibitor

Macrophage colony stimulating factor receptor inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving gastrointestinal stromal tumor, renal cell carcinoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, neuroendocrine neoplasm

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 9 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

leukoencephalopathy, diffuse hereditary, with spheroids 10.93

Genetic · overall 0.84

Hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia0.93

Genetic · overall 0.83

leukoencephalopathy, hereditary diffuse, with spheroids0.92

Genetic literature · overall 0.56

brain abnormalities, neurodegeneration, and dysosteosclerosis0.90

Genetic · overall 0.78

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

renal cell carcinoma0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

gastrointestinal stromal tumor0.95

Clinical · overall 0.63

neoplasm0.87

Clinical · overall 0.59

tenosynovial giant cell tumor, diffuse type0.86

Clinical · overall 0.52

neuroendocrine neoplasm0.85

Clinical · overall 0.52

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

soft tissue sarcoma0.51

Clinical

Show all associations
leukoencephalopathy, diffuse hereditary, with spheroids 10.84
Hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia0.83
brain abnormalities, neurodegeneration, and dysosteosclerosis0.78
gastrointestinal stromal tumor0.63
renal cell carcinoma0.60
neoplasm0.59
leukoencephalopathy, hereditary diffuse, with spheroids0.56
tenosynovial giant cell tumor, diffuse type0.52
neuroendocrine neoplasm0.52
soft tissue sarcoma0.51

Open Targets ranks 2,483 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 21 total

VATALANIBPhase 3

colorectal cancer · colorectal adenocarcinoma · von Hippel-Lindau disease

AXATILIMABPhase 3

chronic graft versus host disease · graft versus host disease · COVID-19

IMC-CS4Phase 1 2

melanoma · prostate cancer · breast cancer

AMG-820Phase 1 2

colorectal cancer · exocrine pancreatic carcinoma · non-small cell lung carcinoma

EDICOTINIBPhase 2

Hodgkins lymphoma · rheumatoid arthritis · acute myeloid leukemia

PAZOPANIB HYDROCHLORIDEApproval

soft tissue sarcoma · renal cell carcinoma · sarcoma

PLX-7486Phase 1

malignant pancreatic neoplasm

ARRY-382Phase 2

pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma · cancer

PEXIDARTINIB HYDROCHLORIDEApproval

tenosynovial giant cell tumor

QUIZARTINIBApproval

acute myeloid leukemia by FAB classification · neoplasm · childhood leukemia

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyAB · Advanced ClinicalAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · Human Protein Atlas locPR · UniProt UbiquitinationPR · Database Ubiquitination

Safety liabilities

regulation of catalytic activity

Clinical trials

30

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein.

Show remaining trials (24)

COMPLETED · via sunitinib · NCT00357318

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

Hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented gliaWell supported
0.95
agreement 0.831.00
Genetic76%Animal model14%Literature11%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.83 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

leukoencephalopathy, diffuse hereditary, with spheroids 1Well supported
0.94
agreement 0.821.00
Genetic84%Animal model16%Literature1%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.84 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

brain abnormalities, neurodegeneration, and dysosteosclerosisWell supported
0.91
agreement 0.791.00
Genetic88%Animal model12%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.78 · 2 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

gastrointestinal stromal tumorWell supported
0.78
agreement 0.660.90
Clinical76%Somatic mutation21%Literature4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.63 · 3 independent evidence families

neoplasmWell supported
0.77
agreement 0.650.89
Clinical66%Somatic mutation20%Literature15%

Open Targets aggregate 0.59 · 3 independent evidence families

This ranking differs from Open Targets' own: re-weighting moves genetically-evidenced diseases above more heavily co-mentioned ones. The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

27

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through 2 drugs that target this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. New publication2025-04-30
    Brain-wide microglia replacement using a nonconditioning strategy ameliorates pathology in mouse models of neurological disorders.

    Science translational medicine · 2025 · 11 citations · Europe PMC · via pexidartinib

  2. New publication2024-05-03
    Machine-learning and mechanistic modeling of metastatic breast cancer after neoadjuvant treatment.

    PLoS computational biology · 2024 · 10 citations · Europe PMC · via sunitinib

  3. New publication2024-01-05
    Genomic profiling in GIST: Implications in clinical outcome and future challenges.

    Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2024 · 20 citations · Europe PMC · via sunitinib

  4. New publication2023-10-21
    Distinguishing the effects of systemic CSF1R inhibition by PLX3397 on microglia and peripheral immune cells.

    Journal of neuroinflammation · 2023 · 34 citations · Europe PMC · via pexidartinib

  5. New publication2021-03-01
    Nivolumab plus Cabozantinib versus Sunitinib for Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2021 · 1,297 citations · Europe PMC · via sunitinib

  6. Regulatory approval2021-02-11

    Approval: Sunitinib Accord (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via sunitinib

  7. New publication2021-01-05
    Microglial activation contributes to cognitive impairments in rotenone-induced mouse Parkinson's disease model.

    Journal of neuroinflammation · 2021 · 130 citations · Europe PMC · via pexidartinib

  8. New publication2020-06-21
    Liver transarterial chemoembolization and sunitinib for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: Results of the PRODIGE 16 study.

    Clinics and research in hepatology and gastroenterology · 2021 · 15 citations · Europe PMC · via sunitinib

  9. New publication2020-04-25
    Updated efficacy results from the JAVELIN Renal 101 trial: first-line avelumab plus axitinib versus sunitinib in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

    Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology · 2020 · 319 citations · Europe PMC · via sunitinib

  10. New publication2019-10-10
    Microglia drive APOE-dependent neurodegeneration in a tauopathy mouse model.

    The Journal of experimental medicine · 2019 · 350 citations · Europe PMC · via pexidartinib

  11. New publication2019-08-16
    Nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus sunitinib in first-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma: extended follow-up of efficacy and safety results from a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial.

    The Lancet. Oncology · 2019 · 595 citations · Europe PMC · via sunitinib

  12. New publication2019-02-16
    Pembrolizumab plus Axitinib versus Sunitinib for Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2019 · 2,427 citations · Europe PMC · via sunitinib

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.